On Thursday, Bangladesh continued to live in tension as daily life virtually ceased as a result of a nationwide lock down that had been declared by the ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her now banned Awami League party. The demonstration also precedes an important sentence in the trial of Hasina on charges of crimes against humanity, which was connected to the fatal 2024 student uprising that overthrew the 15-year reign of the latter.
Indian charges against Hasina have been filed in relation to her role in authorizing a brutal crackdown resulting in the deaths of hundreds of people after she was ousted in August 2024. The special court in Dhaka will make its decision on Monday and the chief prosecutor, Tajul Islam, announced this at a press conference. In the meantime, the leaders of the Awami League rejected the court labeling it a kangaroo tribunal and called upon its supporters to go to the streets.
Through the leadership of the government headed by the interim Prime Minister, Muhammad Yunus the government has heightened the level of security in the country to avert massive unrest. Schools of Dhaka and other big cities transferred to online classes and the services of public transportation were strongly disrupted. Highways that were in most cases popularized were mostly abandoned.
There are already cases of violence in various districts. An office of Hasina, the ancestral home of Gopalganj, had been firebombed, and one of the offices of Grameen Bank, a microfinance institution started by Yunus, was burned in eastern Bangladesh. There have been reports of crude bomb explosions and vehicle torching all over Dhaka which has brought about apprehension of a long period of instability.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Yunus is also supposed to speak to the country later in the day. His administration has pledged to bring the perpetrators of the violence during the Hasina administration to book. But with Awami league denying the validity of the trial, Bangladesh seems to be on the path of another round of political unrest.
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